Confectionery molding machine



Jan. 31, 1939. L LY r 2,345,399

CONFECTIONERY MOLDING MACHINE I Filed July 8, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I lI Jan 31,, 1939. K. LLEWELLYN ET AL CONFECTIONERY MOLDING MACHINE FiledJuly 8, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 21311 mm. L. K. LLEWELLYN tr AL 2 3CONF'ECTIONERY MOLDING MACHINE Filed July 8, 1956, 4 Sheets-Sheet sSheets-Sheet 4 Mn 31, WW. 1... K. LLEWELLYN ET AL CONFECTIONERY MOLDINGMACHINE Filed? July 8, 1936 ill iii

Fatenteill Jinn. fill with WNFECTIQNERY M'QLDING Willi? ago, a orationof it;

ltppiioatioui duly h, li ht, heated WWW Tints invention relates tomachines i'cr matlcally molding confectionery and items from congealableor hard The invention will be described in connection with a machinewhich is supplied serlatim with trays containing starch or othersuitable molding material and congealed or hardened confectionery or thelike, which trays are dumped, the contents are separated, the candles orconfectionery pieces are cleaned and withdrawn, the starch replaced inthe trays and leveed d, impressions or recesses having the desired formare made in the starch, these recesses are filled with measured quantityof confectionery material in plastic condition and the trays aredelivered from the machine to permit the confectionery material to set,whereafter the trays are again passed through the machine to remove theset candies or confectionery therefrom.

The present invention relates more particularly to the conveying systemwhereby the trays are transported from the position of one operation toanother and the principal object of the invention is to provideconveying system which operates intermittently and which, nevertheless,acceler ates and accelerates gradually so that any possibllity ofdisturbing the starch which forms the molded openings, is obviated.

The invention will readily be understood from the following descriptionof a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1A is an elevation of the fore part of a machine embodying myinvention;

Fig. 1B is an elevation of the rear part of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a View of an intermediate portion of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on a larger scale, taken on the line ll-23 ofFig. 2, showing the speed varying linkage;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic elevation showing portions of the main conveyorchains and the drive therefor;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the drive of the mainconveyor chains, and

Fig. 6 is a graph showing the manner in which the main chains areactuated.

The main driving mechanism for the several parts of the machine willfirst be described. The main power shaft it is connected by spur gearsto the driving shaft ii of the depositor it. This depositor workscontinuously with a reciprocating motion so as to fill a row of recessesin the starch of a tray it. A shaft it is driven from (m. rov al shortlit by beveledgearing iii. The shaft it extends to a selective geardrive it located jncor and below the printer it. A shaft is, mountedabove the shaft It, has fixed thereon a nbcr of gears it of gradedsizes. The shaft M is operatlvely connected to a selected one of thegears It by means of a gear which is movably mounted on a handle 3!. Bysuitable manipulation of the handle 2|, the speed ratio between theshafts it and. it may be controlled a desired, for a purpose which willhereinafter appear.

The shaft it drives through a gear connection it a shaft 23 whichextends to a point immediately below the rotary dumper M. A shorttransverse shaft 25 is driven from the shaft 23 through miter gears 26.A pinion 2! on the shaft 2! drives a gear 28 which is rigidly carried bya shaft 29. A mutilated gear which has teeth around half its peripheryonly is rigidly mounted on the shaft it behind the gear 28. Themutilated gear cooperatively engages two pinlons 30 and 3t arranged indiametrically opposite positions with respect to the mutilated gear.Consequently, these pinions are rotated alternately in the samedirection. The pinions 3t and 3| are rigidly mounted on shafts 3t and 33respectively. I

The shaft 32 drives through suitable gearing a shaft 3B which is thedrive for the first set of conveyor chain 35. The shaft 33 drivesthrough suitable gearing the shaft 36 of the tray dumper it. The traysmay be supplied to the chains by any suitable means. We prefer to employthe unstacking machine described and claimed in our copendingapplication Serial No. 37,662, filed August 24, 1935 and issued Aug. 10,1937, as Patent No. 2,089,385. This machine may suitably be driven fromthe shaft it so that a tray is placed on the chains 3% while they are atrest and while a tray i being dumped by the dumper M. Then the chains 35move to bring the tray which it has just received to the dumper andinsert a previous tray into the dumper. This alternate operation resultsfrom the fact that the gears 30 and 3| operate alternatively owing tothe construction of the mutilated gear 28.

A shaft 31 is driven from the shaft 33, and consequently intermittently.The shaft 3l drives a shaft 38 which is the main drive shaft of theprincipal conveyor chains 39. The shaft 38 extends transversely throughthe machine and has rigidly secured thereto a radial arm it. To this armis keyed a pin 4| which rigidly carries a gear 42. Thus, it will beunderstood that the gear 12 rotates in planetary relation to the shaft39, but does not rotate relative to the shaft 38 or to the pin 4|. Thepin 4| pivotally receives a link 43, which supports a pin 44 on which isfreely mounted a gear 45 in mesh with the gear 42 and with a gear 46.The gear 46 is rigidly mounted on a shaft 41 which extends across themachine and has keyed thereto a sprocket 48. The shaft 41 is connectedto the pin 44 by a link 49 to keep the gears 45 and 46 in mesh. It is tobe understood that the pin 44 is connected to the links 43 and 49 so asto provide free articulation therebetween.

If the shaft 38 is rotated continuously, the shaft 41 will be driven ata varying speed. The speed of the shaft 41 will vary from zero up to amaximum which is substantially greater than the speed of the shaft 38,and will then vary down to zero again. The speed of the shaft 41 isshown graphically on Fig. 6 between A and B. The arm 40 of the variablespeed linkage is connected with the shaft 38 so that the linkage is inzero position at the moment the shaft 38 is arrested by thedisengagement of the teeth of the mutilated gear 28 from the gear 3|,from which the shaft 38 is driven. It will be understood that the shaft39 is driven one revolution at constant speed, corresponding to thedotted line C on Fig. 6, and is then at rest for a similar period oftime. As a result of the correct position of the arm 40 on the shaft 38,the shaft 41 rotates with the characteristic speed cycle shown in Fig.6. In other words, the shaft 41 remains at rest for a period owing tothe similar condition of the shaft 38. The shaft 38 is then put intorotation at immediate full speed, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 6.Owing to the fact that the variable speed gear elements are at theirzero position, the shaft 41 starts imperceptibly and acceleratesgradually to a peak speed. Then it decelerates gradually and finallystops imperceptibly.

As a consequence of the imperceptible starting and stopping and thegradual acceleration and deceleration of the chains 39, the starch inthe trays is not subjected to the shocks which have heretofore brokendown the walls of the molds and resulted in the production of imperfectcandies or sweetmeats.

The chains 39 are best shown in Figs. 4 and 5. They pass over sprockets50 near the dumper 24 and over sprockets 5| keyed to a shaft 52 near thedepositor 12. The shaft 52 rigidly carries a sprocket 53 which is drivenfrom the gear 48 on the shaft 41 by means of a chain 54. Thelowerstretch of the chains 39 is supported by idlers 55, 55' and 56, thelatter being freely mounted on the shaft 41, and they pass beneathidlers 51 whereby their tension may be adjusted as desired.

The printer I1 is well known and need not be described in detail. Itserves to make depressions in the starch of the tray, which depressionsreceive a certain amount of confection in plastic state from thedepositor 12. The printer I1 operates when the chains 39 are at restand, consequently, its driving shaft 58 is driven by connections (notshown) from the gear 30.

The machine comprises various mechanisms which are not necessarilyoperated in synchronism with the chains 39. These mechanisms maysuitably be driven from a pulley 59 and they will be but brieflyreferred to. From the pulley 59 is operated a shaft 60 which serves tovibrate a sieve (not shown) which separates the finished sweetmeats fromthe starch. Various other features, such as the brush to clean thesweetmeats, a fan to supply air to the brush to assist in the cleaning,and so forth, are not shown, but they may be conveniently driven fromthe pulley 59 in known manner. Also driven from the pulley 59 is thestarch elevator GI and also the starch scrapers 62 which return anystarch which falls to the bottom of the machine to the elevator 6|.Leveling means referred to generally by the reference numeral 63 serveto remove excess starch from the trays. This leveling means may operatecontinuously and may also be driven from the pulley 59.

It will be understood that the trays are brushed in known manner, theshort sides being brushed by stationary brushes (not shown) and thelonger sides being brushed by a traveling brush driven by the mechanism64. The traveling brush operates when the chains 39 are at rest and,consequently, the mechanism 64 is driven from the shaft 32.

The trays are carried past the depositor l2 by conveyor chains 65 whichare located at the delivery end of the chains 39, the chains 39 and 65being located in overlapping relation. It may here be noted that thechains 35, 39 and 65 are provided with lugs which engage the trays. Thetrays normally ride upon runways in which the upper stretches of thesechains are recessed. The chains 65 are driven intermittently from theshaft II by means of two pawls located one behind the other, theforemost pawl being seen in Fig. 1B and being designated 66. The pawl 66cooperates with a disc 61 which has two diametrically opposite notches.The other pawl cooperates with a ratchet 68 located behind the disc 61in Fig. 1B. The throw of this pawl can be adjusted in known manner withthe aid of the adjustable connecting element 69. This adjustableelement, together with the variable speed gear box l6, enables eachmovement of the chains 65 to be adjusted to suit it for any suitablenumber of rows of openings which may be formed by the printer 11. Thatis, where small sweetmeats are being made, the rows of molds or openingsare located in rows which are much closer than when larger sweetmeatsare being made. The pawl 66 engages the notches of the disc 61 only tomove the chains 65 a greater distance corresponding to the distancebetween the last row of molds of one tray and the first row of molds ofthe next tray. After this big movement the chains 65 are moved by theother pawl through the shorter distance corresponding to the distancebetween adjacent rows of molds. The disc 61 and ratchet 63 are rigidlymounted on the shaft 10 which has keyed thereto two sprockets 1| for theactuation of the chains 65.

The depositor l2 which supplies a charge of liquid or plasticconfectionery material to each mold opening need not be described indetail. It is driven from the shaft I I and it comprises a series ofpistons 12 and cut-off elements 13. Suitable adjustments are providedwhereby the amount of liquid material delivered by each piston 12 may bereadily. controlled. The trays delivered from the depositor by thechains 65 may be removed therefrom in any suitable way, for example, bymeans of the transferring and stacking mechanism described and claimedin Patent No. 1,950,943, Joseph M. Hutchinson.

The reference numeral 14 designates a suitable conveyor for the removalof the hardened cleaned sweatmeats delivered from the machine.

Although the invention has been disclosed in grasses 3 connection withthe specific details of a preferred embodiment thereof, it must beunderstood that such details are not intended to be limitative'of theinvention except in so far as set forth in the accompanying claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for molding confectionery and the like, a conveyor forconveying fragile molds in which confectionery is to be molded in stepby step movements, an intermittently operated drive member, and avarying speed linkage connecting said drive member to said conveyor,said varying speed linkage having a cycle from zero speed to peak speedand back to zero speed when driven continuously, said intermittentlyoperated drive member being connected to the varying speed linkage sothat the starting and stopping position of the former coincide with thezero position of the latter.

2; In a machine for molding confectionery and the hire, a conveyor,including an actuating shaft,

for conveying fragile molds in which confectionery is to be molded instep by step movements, an intermittently driven shaft, a gear rigidlyand eccentrically mounted thereon, a gear on said actuating shaft, afloating gear engaging said gears, and links securing the intermediategear to said shafts, said gears and links being arranged so that thecontinuous rotation of the intermittently driven shaft imparts a varyingspeed cycle including a zero point to the actuating shaft and theconveyor, the gear mounted on the intermittently driven shaft beinglocated so that the stopping and starting of said shaft coincides withthe zero point of the speed cycle of the actuating shaft.

3. In a machine for molding confectionery and the like, a conveyor,having a shaft, for conveying fragile molds in which confectionery is tobe molded in step by step movements, another shaft, means for rotatingsaid other shaft one revolution at intervals, and a varying speed devicehaving a zero speed in its cycle, connecting said shafts to impart acorresponding one revolution to the conveyor shaft, said varying speeddevice being connected to the intermittently driven shaft so that itszero speed position corresponds to the starting and stopping position ofsaid intermittently driven shaft.

4. In a machine for molding confectionery and the like, a conveyor,including an actuating shaft, for conveying fragile molds in whichconfectionery is to be molded, in step by step movements, a drivingshaft, means for rotating the driving shaft one revolution at intervals,a gear rigidly and eccentrically mounted on the driving shaft, a gear ofthe same size on said actuating shaft, a floating gear engaging saidgears, and links securing the intermediate gear to said shaft, saidgears and links being arranged so that continuous rotation of thedriving shaft imparts a varying speed cycle including a zero point tothe actuating shaft and the conveyor, the gear mounted on theintermittently driven shaft being located so that the stopping andstarting of said shaft coincides with the zero point of the speed cycleof the actuating shaft.

LEWIS K. ILEWELLYN. ALBERT R. BARTON.

